While initial implementation of mobile wireless communication supported voice communication services, the wireless communication services have since developed to provide packet data communication, with ever increasing transmission speed. The packet data communication allows mobile station users to expand the scope of their use of the mobile station, for example, to enjoy multimedia services, comparable to those enjoyed via Internet connected personal computers (PCs).
As the packet data communication has become prevalent, a form of payment for data communication services, prepaid communications services, in which a customer or subscriber have fixed availability of usage of a resource. Such services now encompass an array of mobile wireless communications. In an example of a prepaid wireless service, the customer may purchase blocks of time or amounts of data for making voice telephone calls or data communication via a cellular telephone network or postpaid model in which fixed fee will be applied for available resource after which the fee will increase. Upon connecting to the wireless communications network, the customer account is authorized and authenticated, and the network allows a voice or data call to proceed. The network monitors the customer's usage time or data and decrements from the customer's account. If the account becomes depleted or reaches the billing cycle limits, the system can either prompt the customer to purchase more time, or the system can terminate the call. The wireless communications system enables the customer to budget an amount of airtime that will be used during a certain period of time, and to insure that the budget will not be exceeded unless the customer desires more airtime. The wireless service provider likes this type of service, because the carrier receives payment in advance and need not run the risk that the customer will default on a bill, and also brings great value to the service provider even with fixed resource options in terms of revenue. Since data communication may be terminated without notice or price for usage of data communication may increase when the prepaid or postpaid account depletes, the customers want to be advised about reaching data plan limit set by their service plans in advance of reaching the data plan limit.
In another aspect, since most recent packet data communication users are young users, parents of the young users would like to keep track of and control usage of packet data communications of their children. As a way to control usage of data communication by their children, the parents need to receive notifications of reaching the data plan limit or a pre-set usage limit.
To address these needs for people to receive notifications of reaching a data plan limit or a pre-set usage limit, some wireless communication service providers provide notifications of reaching the data plan limit to the customers. The wireless communication service providers, however, do not provide notifications of reaching a data plan limit during a data communication session, since the amount of use of data plan limit is checked only after the end of each data communication session. In addition, the wireless communication service providers take an initiative in sending the notification upon reaching the limit, but the customer cannot set an arbitrary threshold of data usage at which the notification would be sent to the customer at his disposal.
Hence, a need exists for a method and a system for providing a notification of reaching a data plan threshold to a mobile station customer in a real time when the data plan limit is reached.
Another need exists for a method and a system for providing a notification of reaching a data plan threshold to a mobile station customer which allows the customer to set the threshold of the data usage amount at which the notification is sent to the customer.